Houston Sheriff Deletes Damning Emails

Harris County Sheriff's Department employees have been sending racist and homophobic emails to each other, y'know, because there's just not enough crime in Texas to keep them bizzy. The emails were first discovered in early January during an undercover investigation about the use of jail labor on the sheriff's million dollar ranch house.  KTRK's Wayne Dolcefino, who uncovered this misuse of public trust, is now reporting that there might be a criminal investigation after Sheriff Tommy Thomas ordered his staff to delete those emails.  (You can see Wayne's full report, with video, here.)  There have been calls for the sheriff to resign.

Thomas, predictably, is blaming "politics" for his problems. The Houston Chronicle has that story. "I've been in this business nearly 40 years, and I've never had my integrity questioned. To have this happen, obviously, I think is pure politics," Thomas said. "Unfortunately, some things happened that I'm not happy about..." (We're not happy about it either, yer worshipful.)

So how obnoxious are the emails? One describes a "New Cell Phone" for "White People" and shows the photo of a 9mm handgun. Gays are described as "fudgepackers" and there's a black pregnant Barbie accessorized with GEDs and a bus pass. (You can see more of those toxic emails here, including the one pictured above.)